The only other church where we obtain some insight into its condition is the church of Iona. It remained for upwards of half a century under Norwegian rule, and we hear nothing of it after King Magnus’s visit to the holy island; but when, along with the southern portion of the Western Isles, it again reverted to their native rulers, we obtain a notice of the state of the community, which we may well consider equally applicable to this period. No abbot appears; but the goodmen, or chiefs of the family of Iona, who claimed the right of electing an abbot, were four in number. These were, first, the _Sacart mor_, or great priest; secondly, the _Ferleighinn_, or lector; thirdly, the _Disertach_; and fourthly, the _Cenn_, or head, of the _Ceile De_, and the rest of the chiefs of the family.[684] During this period, when Iona was in the hands of the Norwegians, the coärbs of Columcille were the abbots of Kells, and we find in that church the counterpart of the first three of these chiefs of the family. In the Irish charters in the Book of Kells we find mention of the _Sacart_ and the _Ferleighinn_. Thus, in the oldest charter, granted before 1084, there is mention of ‘the coärb of Columcille, that is, Domnall mac Robartaigh, with all the ecclesiastics of Kells, in like manner, both _Sacart_, or priest, _Epscop_, or bishop, and _Ferleighinn_, or lector.’[685] Again, a charter, some ten years later, relates to ‘land which the _Sacart_, or priest of Kells and his kinsmen purchased, that is, O’Breslen and his kinsmen,’[686] which rather implies that the priesthood was hereditary in his family. Then, in a charter granted between 1128 and 1138, we have the ‘coärb of Columcille, viz., Gilla Adomnan O’Coirthen, and the _Sacart_ of Kells, viz., Maelmartin O’Breslen, and the _Ferleighinn_ of Kells, viz., Guaire O’Clucan;’[687] and finally, in a charter granted between 1128 and 1140, the goodmen, or chiefs, of Kells are mentioned. They are ‘Muredach O’Clucan, abbot of Kells; Conaing O’Breslen, the _Sacart_; Guaire O’Clucan, the _Ferleighinn_; and Aedh, son of Mac Rechtogan, the Vice-Erenagh.’[688] From these charters we see that the office of _Sacart_, or priest, was hereditary in the family of O’Breslen. The charters of Kells, too, throw light upon the chief of the family of Iona termed the _Disertach_; for the oldest charter in the Book of Kells is one before 1084, in which the king of Tara, or of Ireland, Maelsechnaill, and the coärb of Columcille, ‘with all the ecclesiastics of Kells, both priest and bishop and lector, and also the vice-erenagh, with the young clerics of the congregation of Columcille, have all granted for ever Disert-Columcille in Kells, with its garden, to God and to pious _Deoradh_, or pilgrims, no pilgrim having any lawful possession in it at any time until he devotes his life to God and is devout.’ This last clause is obviously to prevent the _Disert_ falling into the hands